IKEA Australia announces installation of solar panel energy systems across all East Coast stores

Leading home furnishing retailer; IKEA Australia, announced today that it will roll out a solar panel energy system across its East Coast stores, resulting in the largest commercial installation in Australia.

Collectively, the installation, across seven IKEA buildings, will include over 16,000 panels, with an annual output of 5,495 million kilowatt hours (MWh) of electricity.

All five stores in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, in addition to two merchandise pick-up locations, will welcome the roof solar panel system throughout 2014. All new IKEA stores over the coming years will be built with solar panel energy systems already installed.

The installation commenced in April at Queensland’s Logan store and is expected to complete with Springvale, Melbourne later this year.
The panels will be installed by leading solar energy providers Canadian Solar and Kingspan and, combined, will take up the equivalent space of almost five soccer fields across a total space of 32,870m2.

This is estimated to generate 5,495MWh of electricity annually, equivalent to
•    Provision of 778 family homes’ electricity yearly
•    Powering an IKEA 400 Lumen LED LEDARE globe in 430,137 homes for five hours a day for one year
This will reduce 5,660T/year emissions of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 1,896 car emissions.

The move to install solar systems across its stores further strengthens IKEA’s long-standing efforts to minimise its impact on the environment and to become resource and energy independent.
IKEA’s “People & Planet Positive” strategy for 2020 focuses on encouraging and contributing to a sustainable world that provides a great quality of life and protects the environment. Through this, IKEA Australia will drive innovation and continue its commitment to create a better everyday life for the many by inspiring and enabling customers to live a more sustainable life at home.
Richard Wilson, IKEA Australia Sustainability Manager, says: “At IKEA, we are committed to investing in new ways to improve our environmental responsibility and the solar energy system investment across our stores in Australia will further strengthen these sustainable efforts. We constantly ask ourselves how what we are doing today can be done better tomorrow. There are some 550,000 solar panels installed on IKEA buildings worldwide, enough to provide the annual electricity needs of 20,300 homes. By maximising renewable energy, we are able to reduce our carbon footprint, contribute to a healthier environment – and work towards our global ambition of being energy independent by 2020.”

IKEA, drawing from its Swedish heritage and respect of nature, strives to be a good business while doing good business and reflects an operating model designed to minimise impacts on the environment. Last year more than two thirds of IKEA cotton came from more sustainable sources investing millions in projects to help 110,000 cotton farmers improve their incomes and produce cotton using less water and chemicals.

Specific store solar program details:

•    Logan store: 2,470 panels x 300W = 741kWp
Equivalent to reducing 781T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 262 car emissions a year or powering 118 family homes’ electricity yearly

•    Logan EMPU: 160 panels x 300W = 48kWp
Equivalent to reducing 80T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 27 car emissions a year or powering 8 family homes’ electricity yearly

•    Rhodes: 1,728 panels x 250W = 432kWp
Equivalent to reducing 479T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 160 car emissions a year or powering 70 family homes’ electricity yearly

•    Rhodes EMPU: 160 panels x 300W = 48kWp
Equivalent to reducing 56T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 19 car emissions a year or powering 8 family homes’ electricity yearly

•    Richmond: 2,364 panels x 305W = 721 kWp
Equivalent to reducing 1,031T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 345 car emissions a year or powering 126 family homes’ electricity yearly

•    Springvale: 3,060 panels x 310W =950kWp
Equivalent to reducing 1,266T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 424 car emissions a year or powering 163 family homes’ electricity yearly

•    Tempe: 3,960 panels x 250W = 990kWp
Equivalent to reducing 1,129T/year of carbon dioxide emissions, which equates to 378 car emissions a year or powering 169 family homes’ electricity yearly